SHIP WRECK DRAMA

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 68, 13 December 1932, Page 10

SHIP WRECK DRAMA

Loss of Southern Cross OFFICERS’ GALLANTRY Story Told to Naval Court CAPTAIN EXONERATED By Telegraph.—Press Association, Auckland, Dec. 12. The Naval Court, which inquired into the wreck of the Mission steamer, Southern Cross, found that no blame could be attributed to the master, or the officer, who was on watch, or to any- other member of the crew. Captain Stanton and seven white members of the wrecked steamer’s complement returned to Auckland to-day on board the Aorangi.

“Having regard to the circumstances,” states the court, which sat at A’ila, New Hebrides, “we find that on the evidence, in the absence of all records, which were lost with the vessel, no blame can be attributed to the master or the officer who was bn watch at the time, or to any other member of the crew. The course set. by the master should have taken the vessel about thirty miles to the westward of Aneityum Island. The court is aware that very strong currents are experienced at times between the New Hebrides and Caledonian groups, running to the eastward during the hurricane season, but in the absence of records it is not possible for the court to state definitely the set and trend of the currents.

“During the hurricane season the visibility is often exceedingly’ poor, owing to haze and rain squalls covering the high land. The court desires to direct the attention of the Board of Trade to the efforts made by the master and officers to save life, in which they were successful, and in particular to the action of the first mate, James William Scott, in swimming to the shore through a heavy sea with a line.” The Captain’s Report.

The story of the wreck of the Southern Cross, as told in Captain Stanton’s report, shows that on October 30 the sky was so cloudy that it was impossible to “take the sun” or correct compass deviations.

A few minutes before 2 a.m. the second officer, Mr. R. AA r . Holmes, call- ' ed the captain to report the “loom” of land on the starboard bow. Indications were by no means clear, but the captain altered his course slightly toward north-west, while the second officer kept a sharp look-out in the bow. By three o’clock a sudden heavy rain squall came up from the south, and the order “Stand-by” went down to the engine-room, followed five minutes later by “Slow ahead,” but in five minutes more Captain Stanton, feeling that the ship was behaving in an unusual fashion, ordered “Full speed astern,” and at the same moment the look-out caught sight of a line of breakers “dead ahead.”

The ship’s head was promptly turned to port to give her a chance of clearing the threatening danger, but she had almost lost steerage way and the wind and the set of the sea were evidently carrying her into peril. The starboard engine was put “Full speed ahead” to get her round seaward and clear the breakers, but at this critical moment she scraped the rocks. A sea piled up by the southerly wind caught her before she could escape and flung her broadside on to the reef, so that she at once canted over to the port, and the engineer a moment after reported to the bridge that the starboard engine was out of commission and that the engine-room was filling fast. Plunged in Darkness. It was then 3.16 a.m., or only five minutes after the captain had ordered “Full speed astern!” News from the engine-room showed that the position was already desperate, and within another minute the captain had ordered the port lifeboat to be swung out, but it was caught by the wind and sea and hurled inboard through the sun deck and the ship was now lying over so far that it was impossible to get out the starboard boat. Almost immediately the captain switched on* the searchlight, but it revealed nothing that could be called encouraging or hopeful—low-lying rocks close in shore, a heavy sea. flying foam, and no land visible. Almost at the same moment a great wave broke on board, and swept from the bridge the chart log book and nautical instruments, and five minutes later the dynamo gave out and the ship was plunged in total darkness. ( It was now evident that the time had come for decisive action. There were on board Captain Stanton, his three officers (Scott, Holmes, and AA’ilkes), the two engineers (Newton and McGregor), a steward who “doubled” as cook (Roberts), and a passenger (Stolte), who had booked as purser, eight Europeans in all. There were also 15 Solomon Islanders. Only four of the eight whites could swim. The ship was pounding herself to pieces on the reef and she had canted over so far that they could not walk the deck, but climbed on to the port railings and sat on the gunwale while lifebelts were found and handed out. Officer Swims Ashore. . It was 3.30 a.m. and still quite dark, and amid all that welter and turmoil and blackness, to quote the exact words of C::.).iin Stanton’s pithy report:— “Chief Officer J. AV. Scott swims ashore with a line to facilitate the landing of the crew through the surf.” As it turned out Scott had not far to go. The ship had struck a reef about 200 yards from the shore, and only 600 yards of swimming was needed to reach solid earth, but they did not find this out till later, and Scott, after plunging into “the jaws of utter darkness,” and fighting his way through breakers to the shore, drew in his line, but it came away in his hands. It had cut through on a sharp coral and his adventure after all had been futile.

The captain helped Stolte to reach the shore. Holmes assisted the others. Newton, the chief engineer, lost his glasses and started swimming out to the wreck again before his mistake was discovered. ' McGregor, second engineer, was nearly choked by his lifebelt and swallowed a great deal of water, and some of the native boys were so desperately afraid of the sea and of possible sharks that they stuck to the ship till Holmes told them that unless they came at once they would be left to shift for themselves. However, in some mysterious fashion they all got tc land and by 6 a.m. 23 refugees, halfclad, hungry, chilled by pitiless wind and rain, bruised and cut by violent contact with coral, stood on shore a< least alive and safe.